DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B vs Mistral Magistral Small 2509
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B (2025) and Mistral Magistral Small 2509 (2025) are frontier reasoning models from Alibaba and MistralAI. DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B ships a 160k-token context window, while Mistral Magistral Small 2509 ships a not-yet-sourced context window. On pricing, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B costs $0.20/1M input tokens versus $0.50/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B is ~150% cheaper at $0.20/1M; pay for Mistral Magistral Small 2509 only for provider fit.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | reasoning-heavy apps | provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Long context | General |
| Context window | 160k | — |
| Cheapest output | $0.20/1M tokens | $1.50/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 1 tracked | 2 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 rows | 0 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.20/1M tokens.
- DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B uniquely exposes Reasoning in local model data.
- Local decision data tags DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B for Long context.
- Mistral Magistral Small 2509 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B
$210
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Fireworks AI
Mistral Magistral Small 2509
$775
Cheapest tracked route/tier: AWS Bedrock
Estimated monthly gap: $565. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B and Mistral Magistral Small 2509; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is $1.30/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Check replacement coverage for Reasoning before moving production traffic.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Mistral Magistral Small 2509 and DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B is $1.30/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B adds Reasoning in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-01-01 | 2025-09-01 |
| Context window | 160k | — |
| Parameters | 8B | 24B |
| Architecture | decoder only | - |
| License | Open Source | Proprietary |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.20/1M tokens | $0.50/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.20/1M tokens | $1.50/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B | Mistral Magistral Small 2509 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| Function calling | No | No |
| Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | No | No |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on reasoning mode: DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B. Both models share the core language-model surface, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B lists $0.20/1M input and $0.20/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider, while Mistral Magistral Small 2509 lists $0.50/1M input and $1.50/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B lower by about $0.60 per million blended tokens. Availability is 1 providers versus 2, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B when reasoning depth and lower input-token cost are central to the workload. Choose Mistral Magistral Small 2509 when provider fit and broader provider choice are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B is cheaper on tracked token pricing. DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B costs $0.20/1M input and $0.20/1M output tokens. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 costs $0.50/1M input and $1.50/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Mistral Magistral Small 2509 open source?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B is listed under Open Source. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is listed under Proprietary. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for reasoning mode, DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B or Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B has the clearer documented reasoning mode signal in this comparison. If reasoning mode is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B and Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B is available on Fireworks AI. Mistral Magistral Small 2509 is available on AWS Bedrock and Vercel AI Gateway. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
When should I pick DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B over Mistral Magistral Small 2509?
DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B is ~150% cheaper at $0.20/1M; pay for Mistral Magistral Small 2509 only for provider fit. If your workload also depends on reasoning depth, start with DeepSeek R1 0528 Distill Qwen3-8B; if it depends on provider fit, run the same evaluation with Mistral Magistral Small 2509.
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-22. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.